First Application! China’s Digital Yuan Will Be Distributed as Transportation Allowance for Government Employees

Apr 16, 2020

China’s CBDC “DC/EP” will be distributed as a transportation allowance to government employees of Suzhou, a city in southeast China in May. Official documents show the city has required government employees to install digital wallets in April, 50% of their transportation allowance w...

A Chinese Commercial Bank is Internally Testing PBoC’s Digital Currency DCEP Wallet

Apr 15, 2020

On the evening of April 14, Chinese community is flooded with a screenshot of the DCEP wallet which shows Agricultural bank of China is conducting internal testing of PBoC's digital currency DCEP wallet. On October 28, 2019, an official from Chinese government think tank said C...

China Crypto Roundup: CBDC Highlighted Again, Binance Inching Back to Asia

Apr 7, 2020

In recent Chinese cryptocurrency news: the digital yuan was highlighted again in the central bank’s annual meeting this year, at almost the same time, the PBoC-backed internet finance regulatory organization issued a warning against virtual currency. Crypto exchanges keep expanding while seek...

China Gets One Step Closer to CBDC

Mar 25, 2020

The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) has reportedly finished the first-technical-step of developing its sovereign digital currency. Yet, the launch date is still vague; now the central bank needs to come up with relevant laws for its circulation, and that can take even more time. An anonym...

Payment Giant Alipay Undertakes Crucial Work for China’s CBDC

Mar 24, 2020

Chinese payment giant Alipay has published 5 patents related to CBDC (central bank digital currency) from February 21 to March 17. Alipay, a third-party payment company, will undertake four crucial functions of China’s CBDC. Assuming the function of delivery and transaction bookke...

More Central Banks Going for CBDC, May Not Use Existing DLT – BIS

Mar 3, 2020

The Bank for International Settlement (BIS) has presented central banks seeking to issue central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) to the public with design stage choices even as it identifies 17 selected projects either researching, piloting, or, like China, have ongoing work in place at ...

BIS: To Succeed, CBDCs Need to Focus on Convenience

Mar 3, 2020

While tokenizing national currencies could be the solution to the world's financial woes, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) need to compete with both cash and payment operators such as Visa and PayPal.  This is the main take from the quarterly report from the Bank for Internatio...

A Comparison of China’s Central Bank Digital Currency DCEP with Sweden’s e-krona

Feb 25, 2020

Central banks are looking at creating their own digital currencies as a countermeasure to the rise of cryptocurrencies issued by the private sectors. Days ago on February 20, Sweden’s central bank Riksbank said it had begun testing an e-krona and the pilot will run until February 2021; las...

Three Schemes for Dual Offline Payment of CBDC, Says China’s Central Bank

Feb 19, 2020

Compared with the digital currencies that have been issued or are being developed like Libra, the digital currency of China’s central bank is the only one that explicitly requires "dual offline payment". China’s central bank has put forward a set of plans. ICBC (Industrial and Commercial...

Like China, Australia Talks Blockchain Roadmap as US, Japan Mull Own Digital Currencies

Feb 8, 2020

Barely days after the US suggests the possibility of a Fed-issued digital coin, Australia has somewhat followed China in establishing its stance on blockchain by releasing a national roadmap after a year of preparation. The document, which attests to Australia's recognition of the potenti...